The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-12-24

winch were nearly us mncii 50. ihe
number of passengers was very rarely
over twenty.
Leaving Castor as soon as possible
latter breakfast" the train headed for
Raleigh. The passengers expressed
the pious hope that they would have
good luck on their trip to Raleigh
The conductor, when asked MS TO the
time at which he expected TO reach
Raleigh, invariably answered; eff the
Lord blesses MS we will get there by
supper-ti time" The journey was an
occasion alike Of PRAYER and faith.
The little engine and It's attendant cars
caticrcd along, trail of black smoke
marking its slow passage. AT such
places AS there were grades the engine
nearly always stopped. TO get up IN
good hend of steam" rosin was thrown
in, the throttle was pulled wide open,
and the smoking and snoriing l'lilo
monster OF an engine dashed up The
incline at the best speed it could mus
ter, which, to be sure, was small. 30
the long day was spent Brcak-downs
were frequent. and the average one
meant staying out all night. People
on board roughcd it. They were not
delicate in those days, and exacling OF
creature comforts. as they are now.
People in the vicinity sent their saves
with food. and the passengers did con-
siderable foraging on their own ac-
count. With the good luck ordinarily
vouchsafed, the trip was made be
tween breakfast and suppcr.
One common incident of the journey
was the appearance of n 'snakchcad. "
This was one end Of an iron bar or rail
which had become loosened and which
projected somewhat above the level OF
the other rails. Against this = wheel
would strike, and the rail, being forced
up pcrpcndicuiarly or at sharp angle
would enter the car floor. Sometimes
these suddenly projected snakeheads
would badly injure people One noia'
BILE case was that of bridal party.
The groom, seated beside his bride,
was enjoying the novelty of first ride
on the cars, when suddenly, with
stunning Jar, snakchcad came
through the bottom of the car AMI
nearly cut or his leg. As general
thing the motive power was SO weak
that the snakchead stopped the train
and thus Itself prevented damage.
But the snakeheads are to this day an
unpleasant memory of those early days
of railroading.
The strap-iron rails, poor articles.
wore quickly and badly, and one Of
President Vass' serious problems was
the necessity of replacing them. He
had no funds TO buy new ones. So,
in connect on with his roadmaslcr, a
sharp fellow named Rhodes, he concciv-
ed of plan which. though US prima-
tive ms any ever devised, was found TO
work well. Alongside the road grew
numbers of young whltcoak trees,
three or four inches in diameter
These were cut down, Invested Of their
bark. and then nailed down. after be-
ing split into two parts, the curved side
being uppermost The use of these
wooden III Is came to DO very frequent,
and the white oaks of suitable size be-
came scarce. Then little pine sapings
u few years old were used in the same
way. They also lasted very well. So
il came about that President Vass re-
placed iron rails with wooden ones.
and during his term in that Office did
not purchase pound of new iron Tie
declares that the wooden rails were
actually better than the ones they re.
placed.
A railway president Of to-day, going
here and there in lordly style in his
private car, little imagincs the duties.
as well as the trials and tribualions,
of the president of the Raleigh and
CASTOR road in those carly times. cac
of Maj Vass' duties was to inspect the
entire line of the road. 10 do this lie
went over il on foot oTer every mile
of it, back and forth, once month.
accompanied BE- his faithful roadmas-
ter They literally saw every bit of
iron and wood us they footed The $50
miles from Raleigh TO Castor and
back. They usually devoted n full
week to this business of inspection,
camping out at night IL no house was
near by. Not few times did they
4 I'LL. IL.